Followers of Mission:Intangible know the mantra—reputations result from the perceptions stakeholders form about how a company manages its intangible assets. Superior reputations pay off with (i) stronger pricing power, (ii) lower operating costs, (iii) greater earnings multiples, (iv) lower beta, and (v) lower credit costs. Brands are the promises embedded in reputations. Trademarks are communications instruments that evoke brands.

David Ruder, an executive with RPX Corporation who chairs the Society’s Trademark Assets Committee, is an authority on trademarks, brands, reputation and value. In anticipation of a full article a forthcoming issue of Intellectual Asset Management Magazine, David writes about the benefits of reanimation:

In the recent financial downturn many companies have experienced extreme financial distress and some have even gone bankrupt. Because of the financial distress, many of these companies discontinued product or service lines and in the process stopped using the brands associated with the product or service lines. While some of these failed or distressed companies, product lines, or service lines may have been discontinued with little or no attention, there are many that have been high profile. Brands such as HUMMER, CIRCUIT CITY, and SHARPER IMAGE all had billions of dollars of revenues in their lifetimes, but were in serious danger of being permanently retired, never to be heard from again.

However, there are many investors, entrepreneurs, and operating companies that understand the value of brands; even the ones that look like they are dying or dead. Through the process of brand revival, many discontinued or retired brands are being brought back to life as viable and thriving businesses that consumers enjoy. Brand revival takes hard work and investment, but when done properly it can be a rewarding endeavor for those that choose to pursue the strategy.

Unfortunately, there is a small group of commentators that have cast aspersions against revived brands. They call these brands “zombie” brands (or sometimes “ghost” brands) and contend that because the revived brand is not the original, it is somehow not real. They believe that a brand that is revived by an owner other than the original owner is not authentic and can, at times, even be deceptive to consumers.

What these commentators fail to see, however, is that a revived brand is just as real as any other brand. Consumers that choose to buy products or services because of a brand will do so whether the brand is revived or not. Just like all brands, a revived brand requires product development, advertising, and marketing efforts. Brands are assets that require ongoing investment and management.

There are brands out there that can be called zombies, however. They are not ones that are available on any product or service, however. These are the brands that are discontinued yet still exist on trademark registers, corporate balance sheets, and “whatever happened to?” websites. Many of these brands have a great deal of value because consumers still remember them and may have strong positive feelings about the brands. Some business managers, however, just let these brands sit unused and often do so deliberately so that consumers are forced to choose one brand over another.

Once the economy returns to full strength in the coming years there should be many examples of brands that have been revived and grow with a strong economy. These brands will not be zombies but the realization of potential identified by savvy business managers. The commentators that deride these revived brands as zombies would rather that the brands they considered dead would just stay dead. These commentators do not understand brand value.

Intrigued? On behalf of the Society, David invites you to help his committee develop best practice standards for trademark asset management. For more information on membership, click here.